Your Breath is a Melody
by AngelSempai
Summary: After 10 years of sending letters to eachother, Edward decides to finally visit his childhood love, Aria. After everything that has happened to them can they still be together without Edwards regret of his sins in the way. Soon, someone else arrives EdXOC
1. Chapter 1: First And Only Love

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! This is Mrs. Aria Prime speaking! I hope you enjoy my fanfic just as much as I enjoy making it! Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my favorite Anime's so I hope this story is as good for it. Yes, my OC is in this and yes she's sort of mary-sue-ish but only in the sense that I use her in almost every fanfic I make since I make fanfics to get the scenarios in my head into a story. But I promise you she's not annoying or "omg I'm the damsel in distress! Come save me since I'm so weak!" No. That's not gonna fly. My OC(s) are sometimes in situations like that where they need the man to come save them. But that will be rarely. But there will be occasions where they are in something like that and they are saved but they know how to fight or do whatever along with the other(s). And yes I am aware I am using the cliché of doing pairings with OC's but please put up with it. I spend most of my time thinking up scenarios and stories in my head and I love to write about them. Also because I get crushes on certain characters and thus my stories and OC are born. Anyways, I'll just start throwing some things out:

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Aria, Fumiko, Ian, and any other incidental OC's are purely my creation.

I insert my character into these stories and actually make them fit along with the actual story, I'm not going to re-write the whole series and story so you get the drift. Just assume she's there. I usually write about how they meet and stuff.

I do drabble sometimes so bear with me.

Those random quotes in italics are spacers. Which means I'm using them as ways to move the scene to another moment, place, and mostly flashbacks; and a way to get the feeling of the moment. They are usually thoughts I use as Edward's or Aria's so also assume that is coming out of their mind.

Yes, I did get some of these quotes from stories, manga, lyrics, etc. So I apologize if that offends anyone but I do edit and add more things to them. It's not plagiarism I promise you. I let you know that by putting them in Italics. Also to let you know that they are thoughts.

Please, please, please, no flames or bad comments. If you want, comment it or suggest something.

Well thank you for reading this intro and I hope you like my fanfic!! :D

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"Brother…brother, wake up."

"Hmmm….?"

"Time to wake up. Were almost there."

Edward slowly opened his eyes as they glazed over with sleep. The light from outside the train window made him wince slightly as he adjusted to it. He sat up in his seat and stretched out his arms. He looked to his brother who sat across from him; a giant suit of armor staring back at him.

"Were already there?" Edward asked as drowsiness drifted from his voice.

Alphonse replied, "Not quite yet but were close enough."

"Ugh, I didn't even get enough sleep." Edward stood up from his seat and stretched out his back; it was sore from sleeping on the trains seat which was not the most comfortable of napping places. He stretched out his regular and automail limbs. He straightened out his long red coat and his gold hair that was braided back.

His brother, Alphonse, chuckled lightly, "I'm pretty sure when we get to Fumiko and Aria's house that you'll get the chance to rest. But knowing you, you'll probably head straight to the town's library."

"You bet. This town could probably know something about the stone. If not then some kind of clue." Edward replied as he scooted over in his seat to look out the window. Not from too far, he could see their destination closing in. They were arriving in a small, peaceful town that seemed pretty quiet. He glanced back to his brother who continued to talk.

"But what about Aria? I thought the point of this trip was to come see her 'cause you two were tired of writing letters?"

"Well of course I'm going to see her, I mean, it has been almost 10 years. I'd like to see how good she is with alchemy and fighting now."

"I'm pretty sure Fumiko has trained her just as well as teacher has trained us. They ARE good friends."

That fact sent a shiver up Edward's spine, "Ugh, don't remind me. They're probably the same: destructive with mind blowing power. Let's just hope they don't share a temper."

"But didn't Aria say that she's like a mother to her? I'm pretty sure she's not that bad then."

"I just hope your right. And she knows about our situation so I hope she doesn't say anything to teacher.""If we ask her not to it should be ok. Anyways, we also heard from Colonel Mustang that she's a pretty good fighter."

Suddenly, Edward furrowed his brow and folded his arms into some pout, "I can't believe that jerk. He's like a big brother to her. He doesn't deserve to be! Who does he think he is?! Spoiling her and sweet talking her! THAT'S NOT BROTHERLY LOVE! THAT'S CALLED BEING A PEDOPHILE!!"

Alphonse shook his head, "He took her in after her parent's died, it's only reasonable. Besides, why are YOU getting so worked up? Your jealous aren't you?"

Edward blushed lightly and stammered, "T-that's ridiculous! Why would I be jealous?! I'm just saying!"

"Sure, sure."

"Shut up."

Suddenly, both the brothers glanced outside to see they were arriving in the town's station. "Oh! Time to go!" Edward shouted as he reached up for his suitcase that sat on the shelf above the seats.

_**I'm sure that we will meet…**_

_**I miss you day and might…**_

"Alright Al! You're it!"

"What?! Why?!"

"Because you lost the last time we played hide and seek."

"Fine."

"Ok count from 50!"

4 small children played happily outside in the outstretching green plains with very few houses but farms and a river. One of them was Edward, about 5 years old; he was a child with gold hair and gold eyes. Along with his brother, Alphonse, who was about 4 years old; a boy with dark brown hair and hazelnut colored eyes. The other two children were two 5 year olds as well. One was Winry, she had bleach blonde hair that was cut short and she had blue eyes. Finally, the other girl was Aria, she had dark blonde hair that was long to the top of her back and hazel eyes.

Alphonse sighed, he was obviously not pleased with having to be it. He turned around and placed his arm over his face to cover his eyes.

"50...49...48.…"

The other children giggled and scattered off to find places to hide. Edward quickly found an old broken-down tractor to hide behind. From the other side, Aria ran past him in her search for a spot. "Aria! Aria" Edward called out in a hushed voice. Aria heard and looked back to see him crouched down behind the tractor. He moved his hands in a motion to signal her to come to him. She ran quickly and sat by the other boy as he sat next to her.

"You can hide with me."

"Ha ha ok Ed." She smiled back to him.

"You have to leave soon, don't you?"

Aria frowned and looked down to her lap, "Yeah, mommy and daddy said we have to go back home and our vacation is over."

Edward frowned and looked back to her, "Will you be coming back?"

Aria looked back to him and lightly smiled, "Yeah, mommy and daddy said we can come back after they finish some work so I guess next summer."

"That's too long."

"We can keep in touch with letters. Mommy said she would help me send letters to you whenever I want. But my mommy and daddy have to get back to their alchemy and they say that some other alchemist is coming to stay with us for a while to study with them. Then they're going to teach me some too, beside what you guys have shown me."

Edward continued to frown and looked down at the ground by Aria. Aria frowned also but tried to get Edward to look back at her, "I'll be back again Ed don't worry. I Don't want to leave either…"

Edward looked back to her once more, "Before you leave, we have to make one thing official."

"What is that?"

"Your mine forever, you understand?"

Aria's eyes widened as a puzzled look appeared on her face, "W-what…?"

Suddenly, Edward's face looked very determined as she looked back into Aria's eyes.

"You have to be mine forever. Then when we get bigger we can get married."

Aria continued to have a bewildered look on her face, but she realized how serious he was. They had been together all summer and even though they were so young, they somehow managed to fall in love.

"So you have to promise you will be mine and no one else's ever. And you have to promise to always stay in touch with me so we never lose each other."

Aria softly smiled and shook her head, "I promise. I will always be yours and when we are bigger we will get married."

"And we'll have 20 kids."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yeah."

"Oh great." She chuckled lightly as Edward grinned and reached into his back pocket. When he brought out it's contents were a piece of chalk, a small piece of wire, and a couple of violet beads. He set them down and started to use the chalk to draw a small transmutation circle. He place the wire and beads into the middle of it then placed his hands around the circle. Then a great white light shined from the circle as Aria watched in amazement. When the light disappeared, a small ring made up of the wire and beads laid in the middle of the circle. Edward lightly picked up the ring and handed it to Aria, "Keep this forever so it will remind you of me." He grinned widely as Aria took the ring and put it on her left wedding finger.

"I'll keep it close to me forever."

"And when you learn alchemy, I made it so you can easily use alchemy to adjust it's size for when you get older."

The ring was small and the beads were lined in the shape of a diamond and surrounded by other small clear beads. It was beautifully crafted just as Edward has always made things artistically.

"Found you!"

Both the children jumped up startled and turned to see Alphonse and Winry on the other side of them.

"What?! How did you find us?!" Edward exclaimed.

"I saw the light from your transmutation circle brother."

"Oh….dang it."

Suddenly, all 4 of the children burst out laughing.

**Later that night…**

3 adults sat around a table in the kitchen that belonged to Edward and Alphonse's house, along with their mother, Trisha. She was visiting with Aria's parents, Tamera and Cory, who had been staying with them for vacation. Tamera was a tall and beautiful woman with long, curly, blonde hair and green eyes. Corey was a tall, buff man with brown hair and hazel eyes. Trisha, was a petite woman with brown hair and green eyes.

"So, then, I guess this is our last time being together like this." Trisha said.

"For now but we'll be back." Tamera replied.

Trisha smiled, "I'm sure you will. Thank you anyways for coming out to see us all the way in Risembool."

"Not at all. It was fun to come out here and get away from work for once. Especially for Aria. She's had a lot of fun with your boys. Especially Edward." Corey added.

"Ha ha yes I could see that, they got along quite fine."

Tamera interrupted, "They won't leave each other alone! It's so cute!"

"I agree. It's sad you 3 have to leave but I'll be sure to help Edward with sending letters to her."

"I as well." Tamera smiled back at Trisha.

"So I heard you 2 are going to start teaching her alchemy soon."

"Oh yes and our traditional family kind as well."

"So your going to tattoo the transmutation in her palms so she doesn't need to draw a circle all the time?"

"Well what we do is use alchemy to imprint the circle into the palms. But they only appear on each hand when she activates them. And since they are on each hand, she could learn to use one hand to do alchemy."

"That's an interesting way to do it."

"It's how we use is too and it's been passed down in our family for generations."

"I see."

"Yes, and soon we should be able to continue our research once we get home. And soon with her help as we train her."

"Along with Fumiko as well I'm sure?"

"Oh yes, of course."

"Then I'm sure she will be an exceptional alchemist."

"And so will your boys and they have a pretty good head start."

"Yes, they're just like their father. I'm so proud of them."

Corey added in, "We should get to bed soon. Got to go early in the morning."

Trisha got up from her chair, "Yes we should."

"Let's go check up on the children." Tamera said.

Trisha, Tamera, and Corey made their way up the stairs to Edward and Alphonse's room. The door to their room was slightly cracked to let in some light into the dark room. All 3 adults peeked into the room, discreetly opening the door for space to see.

On one end of the bed, Alphonse was bundled up with a blanket and peacefully sleeping. The other end, Edward slept with his blanket kicked off and his stomach out of his shirt. On his right side, Aria curled up next to him; sleeping on his right arm while her right arm stretched over his chest and her right leg stretched over his legs. With his left arm, he held on to her arm that was on him. All 3 adults quietly chuckled at the sight as they quietly closed the door all the way.

**The next morning…**

At a nearby train station Tamera, Corey, and Aria waited for their train. Aria sat on top of her fathers shoulders with a depressing look on her face as she looked into the distance. Her mother noticed this look and asked her, "What's wrong dear?"

"Where's Ed?"

"They should be on their way soon to see us off. Don't worry."

Aria glanced down at her left hand with the ring that Edward has transmuted for her. She stared at it for a while until her mother interrupted.

"What's that sweetie?"

"Ed made it for me."

"Oh? Is it a promise ring?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"What kind of promise?"

"I can't tell you yet."

Her mother laughed and patted her daughter's head, "Alright dear."

Moments later, Trisha called out from behind the family, "You weren't leaving without saying good bye were you?"

They quickly turned to see Trisha who brought Edward and Alphonse with her. Aria lightly kicked her feet to her father's chest for a signal to let her down.

"Ok ok down you go." He crouched over to let Aria get off his shoulders and onto the ground. She quickly ran over to the other family as she went straight to Edward. Her parents walked over to speak with Trisha as Alphonse grasped onto her apron and stayed by her side.

As Aria ran to Edward, she reached out her arms and wrapped them around his neck as he slightly stumbled back but regained his balance. He raised his right arm and placed it over her back to hold her too. Aria slowly took her arms off him and stood to face him. He was about 2 inches taller than her but she still had to look up at him a little. Tears started to stream down both their faces as they stared at each other for a long time.

"M-make sure you send letters." Edward forced out of his frequent breathe from crying.

"Y-you t-too." Aria replied as she sniffed through her tears.

Suddenly, the incoming train arrived in the station and blew off it's whistle.

"We better hurry you two." Corey interrupted the dimness of the last visit. He picked up his wife and daughter's bags, "Alright let's go."

Tamera looked back to Trisha, "Thank you so much for having us. We'll keep in touch."

"Come visit us anytime."

Both the parents nodded and gave each other their last hugs. Tamera bent over to pick up Aria, "Time to go honey."

Aria looked up to her mother with tears still streaming down her cheeks then back to Edward. She quickly hugged him once more then went into her mothers arms, picking her up. She waved to Edward saying nothing as they left. Edward waved back, still quietly crying as well. He watched as they boarded the train and the train door closing behind them with Aria still looking in his direction.

The family took their seats and Aria quickly went up to their seat's window, opening it and sticking her head out a little. The window was on the side of the station were they were leaving Edward and his family. The train slowly started chugging and leaving the station.

Edward ran to the edge of the sidewalk by the train as it started to leave. Suddenly, he heard Aria call out to him and caught his attention. He looked to where she stuck her head out the window and stared back at each other.

At the last minute, Aria said yelled over the chugging and whistle of the leaving train.

"EDWARD!!!"

He rapidly replied, "YEAH?!"

"I LOVE YOU!!!!"

Edward's eyes widened but he quickly yelled back.

"I LOVE YOU TOO!!!"

_**I can hear you**_

_**Even after I learned that I couldn't see you anymore**_


	2. Chapter 2: Your Tragedy

_**I'm looking for a promise we made that day**_

_**A promise we made that over-stretched time**_

_**But not our minds **_

_**How did we grow so far apart, yet so close?**_

Edward and Alphonse quickly boarded off the train and into the small town's station. They looked around at their surroundings and saw few people boarding off the train; it really was a small town.

They headed into the other direction, toward the end of the town. Edward reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a small paper with directions written on it.

"Alright the directions she gave me say that their house is the last one at the end of town by the big river. That shouldn't be hard to find."

The brothers nodded in each others direction then made their way out of the station and to the end of town. One their way, they saw few people besides some small children getting out of school and playing and adults in conversation with others to kill time. On occasion they would see some small stores, stands, and markets.

In a matter of moments, they found themselves at the end of town at their main destination. They stood in front of a reasonably sized house that stood in front of the town river. The house had flowers in the windows and impressively decorated. The river it sat by had clear, shimmering water and behind it was a small forest. The brother's proceeded to walk toward the beautiful house and knocked on it's front door. Minutes later, the door was answered by a tall thin woman with tan skin, blue eyes, and dark brunette hair. She wore regular skinny jeans and a black tank top. She looked back at the boys seriously for a moment as they nervously looked back at her.

"_She looks like she's going to kill us or something…" _Edward thought in his head.

Suddenly, the woman's expression changed into a soft smile as her eyes changed from serious to kind.

"Ahh you must be the Elric boys. Am I right?" She said in her sultry voice that was soft yet firm.

The boys sighed in relief and nodded yes in a reply. She continued to smile at the boy's and continued to talk.

"Nice to meet you boys, I'm Fumiko, but you might have already guessed that."

"Yes ma'am." Alphonse said.

"Aria has told me a lot about you two and your letters." She slightly bent forward to get a closer look at Edward. He backed up a little with a bewildered look on her face.

"W-what?"

"Aria wasn't lying when she said how handsome you are. You must be Edward."

Edward widened his eyes as he tried to confirm what he just heard, "What do you mean?!"

"Whoops! I don't think I was supposed to say that!" she said as she placed her hand over her mouth. She quickly changed the conversation.

"Well! Let's get you 2 settled in!"

"W-wait! What did you…"

"Come in!" Fumiko quickly stepped farther into the house and waited for the 2 boys. Edward tried to get more answers, but to no avail.

They stepped into the house as she led them to the guest room which they would be staying in. The room was about medium size with one bed, one dresser, a nightstand, and it's own small bathroom.

"This will be your room for the time being. I was aware of your situation when putting it together so I assumed that you wouldn't need 2 beds. Is that ok?"

Both the brothers stood embarrassed and softly replied, "Y-yes ma'am…."

"Oh please you don't have to call me ma'am. Just call me Fumiko or Ms. Fumiko. Which ever you prefer," She smiled. "I'm not like Izumi who will beat you to a pulp if you do something wrong. Speaking of which, your secret is safe with me so Izumi won't know until you meet again I suppose."

She held out her hand and shook Alphonse's hand, then Edward's. She shook Edward's automail hand, which surprisingly did not startle her. Edward spoke firmly, "Thank you ma'am….err….I mean, Fumiko." They both smiled and let go of each other's hand.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get settled in. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me. Come see me after your done."

Fumiko left the room and Edward started to unpack his belongings and setting them in the dresser. Alphonse sat on the bed and began to speak to him, "They have a pretty nice house. This must be a pretty peaceful place to live in."

"Yeah it's ok but I bet it gets boring sometimes.""I guess…I wonder where Aria is."

"Yeah that's what I was wondering too. Maybe she's in town doing something."

"We'll have to ask Ms. Fumiko when we talk to her."

Edward soon finished unpacking his things and the brothers made their way to the kitchen to meet with Fumiko. When they entered the kitchen, they saw her sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. She realized they were there and she got up from her seat, "Please, have a seat you 2. Edward would you like some coffee?"

They both sat on the opposite side from where Fumiko sat as Edward replied, "Yes please."

Fumiko grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured coffee into it from the coffee cup. She took the cup for Edward and hers and went back to the table, placing Edward's cup in front of him. He took the cup and took a small sip of the steaming, hot coffee. "Thank you."

"It's nice to see you two. So why the sudden urge to visit?"

Edward finished his sip of coffee and replied, "I thought it would be nice to see Aria after such a long time and I wanted to check out your town's library.""What about our library? You think your going to find something one the Philosopher's Stone?"

Edward silently gulped, "Um…yeah….""Well I and Aria are the only alchemists in town. But I never go to the library so they could have something.""Do YOU know anything about it?"

"Nope sorry kiddo. All I can say it's some pretty risky business from what I've heard from."

"No kidding. And we barely have any answers. We just keep ending up with more questions about it."

"I'm sure something will pop up on your journey.""I hope so…"Fumiko's face started to become more serious as she talked to them, "I also heard about your little situation with your human transmutation." Edward gulped once again and spoke nervously, "You heard from Aria?"

"No. From Roy."

"God damn him…" Edward swore under his breath.

"Anyways, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm not going to scold you. You have enough on your plate. You along with Aria."

Edward looked back at her curiously as Alphonse interrupted asking, "We never really got her to tell us what happened to her. What happened?"

Fumiko sighed with solemn stretching over her face.

"Have you two ever heard of that alchemist who murdered many people by experimenting on them with alchemy?"

Edward answered seriously, "Yes. His name was Ian Smith Right?"

"Yep, he's the one. Anyways, he disguised his self as some General, Richard Sanders, and for a while worked with Aria's parents who were state alchemists.""So does that mean…." Alphonse added.

"That's right, he's the one who killed Aria's parents."

Both the boys were surprised and now curious to find out the rest of this tragedy.

"How did he do it? And when?" Edward asked.

"I wasn't there but poor Aria was…she saw the whole thing and remembers exactly what happened. From what I heard from her and Roy, Ian turned both of her parents into chimeras. And this was sometime after they had left after seeing you 2 and your mother apparently."

Horror shone itself in Edward's eyes as he comprehended this, "That would explain why she never replied to my letters for a long time…"

"Exactly. Ian got away with it too."

"What?! How?!" Edward exclaimed.

"He left before the military arrived. Before they were transformed, her parents managed to get in touch with the military police. But they were too late…all that was left was a sobbing and terrified Aria and her dead father's chimera body. There wasn't even a trace to track him with and they're still looking for him. We don't know about her mother, but her father could not take the transformation and it killed him. We don't even know if Aria's mother is still alive or dead. If she's alive, she must still be a chimera."

Edward slowly calmed down as he listened, but anger started to surge through him as many thoughts crossed his mind.

"How…could someone do this….?" Alphonse said with sadness in his tone.

"The man was crazy." Fumiko answered.

"So is that when Colonel Mustang took her in?"

"Yep. She was about 6 and stayed with him for until she was 8. Then I took her into my care seeing she was old enough to train under my standards now. I've had to help her learn about her traditional alchemy which has not been too easy since she's not my blood relative. But she's been a fast learner and mostly learning her own alchemy with me training her in fighting. I hope it's just enough to prepare her…"Edward curiously asked, "….prepare her for what?"

Fumiko sighed deeper and answered the saddening question, "Ian could come back for her anytime. He has unfinished business with her and he's not weak. Even I might not be enough to keep him from her."

"What does he want with her?!" Edward continued with his questions.

"She holds some very powerful blood and power inside of her, the affect of her family's alchemy. The whole reason he disguised himself to get to them. He wanted her power. And he still does."Edward looked back at her worrying. This was too much. So much had happened to her and they never knew. Until now, at least.

Fumiko stood up from her seat and stared back at the brothers.

"Well, now you know. What are you going to do?"

They didn't answer, they didn't know how to handle something like that. Now the question was, do they stay and protect her or do they act like they never found out what happened. To them, the answer to that question was obvious. But…how?

Fumiko faintly smiled, "If you want, you could help. But please try not to talk to her about it. It still haunts her to this day and I don't want her to be hurt like that ever again."

Suddenly, Edward rapidly stood up from his chair, "I'm going to the town."

Alphonse stood up next, "Let me come with you brother."

"No Al, you stay here. I'll only be a little bit."

Edward stomped out of the house and quickly made his way into town. He needed to blow off some steam.

"I can tell your brother really cares about Aria." Fumiko said to Alphonse.

He replied, "He doesn't want to admit it but I'm sure he does. I bet what he wants most right now is her…"

"Then why doesn't he take her with you guys? I'm sure Aria would love to journey with you guys."

"He's afraid of putting her in danger and hurting her, I can tell. He doesn't want to get her mixed up in our mess. But even I don't think that would be the case, Aria could probably handle herself."

"She can. Maybe he'll learn that before you 2 leave. But I think Edward needs Aria right now just as much as she needs him."

"He's too afraid he'll rub it in my face….since I'm not human right now….but I don't mind. I just want by brother to be happy…"

"He'll learn. I just hope he won't learn too late…"

"I'm just afraid he's going to do something stupid…"

_**When I touched your heart…I yearned for you. I love you…more than anyone.**_

_**I want to protect you…but how can I do that…**_

_**When I'm caught up in my own sins?**_

"Aria, this man is Richard Sanders. He's going to be staying with us for work." Tamera informed her daughter. She stared up at the man her parent's stood by, introducing him. He was a tall man with a glasses, white hair, and clear blue eyes. He smiled back at Aria who looked back at him with curiosity.

"It's nice to meet you Aria." He said through his smile. She nodded her head then looked back to her mother, "I'm going to go write a letter to Ed now."

Her mother looked back her, "But we just got back from seeing them. Don't you think it's a little soon?"

"It's never too soon mommy."

"Ha ha ok. Go ahead and I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"Ok!" Aria yelled back as she ran up to her room to start her first letter to Edward.

_**And so on…**_

So far in the year, Richard stayed with the family and helped them study and continue their research on alchemy. During that period of time, Aria's parents had also begun to teach Aria their family's alchemy.

Aria stood outside with her parent's as her mother prepared her alchemy. She looked as her mother gracefully begun to activate the transmutation circle's in her palms.

"Mommy?"

"Yes dear?"

"Why do we not have last names like everyone else?"

"Because you, I, and your father have mysterious powers with alchemy. I and your father are important assets to the military just like our family always has. It's only a way to keep us safe, that's all. Were all a family, even though we have no last name's to bind us."

"Oh…can I have one?"

"When you find that special person you want to be with, you will be given their last name. You do not have to carry our burden of being in the military, you are free to do what you want when you get older."

"Is this why I don't have a grandma or grandpa? Or uncle and aunt?"

"Yes, most of our family has sacrificed their selves to their own reasons. We are all that's left."

Then, a dim light shone from her mother's palms, "Are you ready Aria?"

Aria bit her bottom lip and nodded her head. There was nothing to be worried about, or nothing to hurt her, it was just….different.

Tamera took both her hands and Aria's hands and pressed their palms together, lacing their fingers. Then she softly placed her forehead on Aria as they both closed their eyes. A great, bright, light shone from both their hands, then is dispersed. They slowly separated and looked at each other calmly; Aria looked down at her palms where a small transmutation circle dimly shined, then faded into her skin. She smiled and looked back at her mother who smiled back at her.

"Just like I explained, whenever you use alchemy, these transmutation circles will appear on your palms. But there is one thing I forgot to mention…"Aria looked back at her, puzzled.

"What is it mommy?"

"Your power is very strong. But it will always be at it's strongest when you are reunited with the person you love."

"You mean like you or daddy?"

Her mother shook her head, "Not exactly. I am talking about the person just for you. The one whom you will love the most and be together with." She took her daughter's hands and repeated the position they were in while they used the alchemy.

"When you are united with that special person, like this, you can use your alchemy to your full extent. This will also help them be stronger as well."

She separated once again from her and then hugged her, "You will find out who that person just for you is. Then you will be very happy with them always. They will fight with you and stay by you forever."

Later on, as Aria trained with her parents while they worked with Richard. Soon enough he had become part of the family. Aria enjoyed being around them all while they worked and helped her learn alchemy. She was about 6 years old now.

Aria ran around the yard surrounding her house. She was making her way to the small house in the back of the yard that was used as her parent's and Richard's research area. When she got to the house, she was met by Richard who stood outside the small house by himself.

"Richard! Have you seen Mommy and Daddy? I made a new letter for Ed and I need them to send it to him."

Richard continued to stand there, very still. He looked down at the ground with no expression on his face. He slowly lifted his head to look down at Aria who looked back at him with confusion.

"Richard…are you ok?"

Slowly, a grin stretched across his face. It almost looked demonic. "Yes. I'm quite fine Aria. If you follow me, I'll take you to your parents."

"Oh good! Thank you!"

"Follow me."Richard turned and opened the door to the small house. Aria looked inside and strangely, it was very dark with a dim red light shining from the back of it. He walked inside with Aria following after him.

"Why is it so dark in here Richard?"

"It's better for our research."

"Oh."

Soon, they were in a small room where the red light was shining from. She walked around the tall man and stood in front of him. She quickly ran back behind him as she was startled by 2 large beasts that quietly stood by the back wall. They were very tall and large, they looked like as if they were two large lions. One had gold fur while the other had brown fur. They didn't do anything but sit there and stare back at Aria with their eyes which seemed familiar to her. They both wore large collars on their necks with leashes hanging off them.

Richard walked toward the two beasts and grabbed the leash of the one with gold fur.

"There's no need to be scared Aria, these are just 2 chimera that I created today. They're friendly."

Aria continued to stand still with fear.

"You can pet them if you want. Go ahead."

Aria hesitated but slowly walked up to the one with gold fur as the other chimera watched. She lifted her quivering hand and set it on the chimera's head. She looked into it's clear green eyes as they stared back into her hazel eyes. Then, the chimera closed it's eyes and placed it's forehead against Aria's. It opened it's eyes once again and looked deeper into Aria's.

Aria's eyes widened with horror as Richard noticed she did. She stepped back a little and looked at the other chimera with hazel eyes. It stared back at her, but this one seemed to be in a lot of pain. She started to step back as a horrifying expression stretched over her face. Tears started to well up in her eyes and ran down her small cheeks.

"M-m-mommy…?! D-daddy?!"

Richard changed the expression on his face from calm to furious. He reached out his arm to grab Aria when suddenly, the chimera not being held by it's leash, jumped out at Richard's arm and he bared his teeth. He quickly sunk his teeth into his arm as he paused, both he and Aria watched the blood run down from his arm onto the ground.

Then, horrifyingly, the chimera ripped of his right arm and dropped it to the ground. He yelled out in extreme pain as he used his other hand punch the other chimera out of the way. It slammed into the back wall from where it stood before. Still in pain, it used all the strength it could to stand back up and fight.

This sight was to much for Aria, she stumbled back and fell onto her tailbone as she watched in horror of what had just happened. She continued to cry, but she could not scream. She was frozen with terror as she whimpered under her tears and breath.

Just right when the chimera was about to jump on Richard again, he was pushed away by Richard's fist. As Aria watched, the other chimera with gold fur walked up to Aria and placed her forehead to hers once more. This time, a light flashed and everything went black.

"Little one…little one…wake up."

Aria opened her heavy eyes to see a strange man in a military uniform looking back at her. He held her in his arms like he was cradling her; she quickly opened her eyes all the way and sat up to look around. They were outside the small research house by her family's house. The place was surrounded by other military officers, they all gathered in the yard and in and out of the small house. She looked back at the man who held her as he was still looking at her with sympathy. He was a tall man with raven black hair and deep black eyes; in front of his face was a shock of hair.

"Are you ok Aria?"

"Wh-who are you?"

"I was a good friend of your parents. My name is Roy Mustang."

Aria rapidly realized what was going on as memories from before slipped into her head. She struggled until Roy finally put her down. She ran into the small house as Roy watched her. His eyes showed that he was sad, but his expression remained solemn. A woman with short blonde hair and piercing brown eyes walked up to his side.

"Will she be ok sir?"

"I'm not sure Hawkeye. This is too much for such a young girl."

Hawkeye looked to the direction he looked to, "This is like what happened to the Elrics."

"They are all too young." Roy added.

Aria ran into the small house into the back of the room it had. She ran past all the officers until she arrived in the room. Everyone else had left to give her some privacy.

She looked across the room to see one of the chimera's from before laying on the ground. It was the brown-furred one, her father.

She walked up to the corpse of the chimera that once used to be her father. She knelt by him and placed her hand on it. She began to cry wildly, screaming out and burying her face in her arms onto her father. Beside her father's chimera corpse, the whole crime scene gad seemed to vanish, along with her mother. The blood and amputated arm were gone, along with a lot of the many papers that filled the corners of the room.

"Why?!! Why did this happen?! Don't leave me!!!"

Roy and Riza watched from the back entrance of the room. They stood quietly as Aria cried continuously.

_**In my solemn hour…**_

_**I wish to hold your heart close to mine…**_

_**So that I will never be lonely again…**_

_**Where are you?**_


	3. Chapter 3: The One Who Loves You

_**Everything we lack is inside the two of us…**_

_**I want you to be the one that is only known by me…**_

Soon after arriving back in town, Edward had started to just walk around aimlessly. It wasn't a big town so it would be hard to even get lost. He looked at the some of the nearby outside markets and stands and passed by one with many beautiful flowers and other small plants. He walked up to the stand and started to look at the many flowers until he was interrupted by a small old lady that walked up beside him.

"Would you like to buy some?"

"Ah, well, I don't know. I think I would like to buy some."

"Ok who are they for?"

"A friend of mine…"

"What's their name?"

Edward quickly became annoyed, "Why do you need to know this?"

The old lady smiled, "I like to help customers pick their flowers by knowing their reason and for who. Let's just say it's easier to know so I can base the kind of flowers on what their name is or other ways. So what is their name?"

"Her name is Aria."

The old lady opened her eyes wider and smiled even bigger, "Oh! These are for Aria? That

should be easy! I know her favorite!"

"But….how do you…"

"She is one of my many customers and helpers too. She's always going around town and

helping anyone who needs it. She's a very sweet girl, not to mention beautiful."

"I see…ok then which are her favorite ma'am?"

The old lady walked to the end of the stand and picked up a strand of Dragon Snaps.

"These are. She buys them every once in a while to decorate her room or put on graves."

"Graves? I didn't know she knew anyone dead in this town?"

"Some of the elderly and other forgotten graves, actually. She's too kind for her own

good. Anyways, these will be 5 cenz."

Edward brought out some coins from his pocket and handed them to the old lady who

handed him the flowers in exchange.

"By that way, do you know where I can find her now? I just got into town and I haven't

seen her yet."

"I saw her this morning but I don't where she would be right now. But it shouldn't be

hard to find her, she's probably still running errands."

"Ok, thank you."

"No problem young man."

Edward thanked her for the flowers and headed into the direction he was in before. He walked down the road that stretched some way until it ended by a forest. On his left it led to an alley and he walked into it. The alley lead him to the other side of town just at the end of it. From the middle of it her could hear talking on the other end, so he stopped to make sense of it since it seemed familiar."

"Sissy can you fix my bike? My tire fell off!" A child sobbed as she looked at her broken down bike. Edward walked to the end and slightly stood at the end of the alley as he looked over to his right to see the small girl holding the broken off tire in his hands.

"Sure Honesty. Here, hand me the tire."

The child handed the tire to the other person. Edward looked up to see a petit young girl with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a long-sleeved dark-blue sailor uniform where the skirt went to just above her knees and she wore long white socks and regular shoes. The expression on her face showed how kind and gentle she was being to the smaller child as she knelt down to position the broken bike.

Edward's attention was also caught by the small, violet, beaded ring on her left hand…

He quickly realized who it was and he gripped the flower stalk in his left hand.

The girl positioned the bike to sit upright against a wall they were by and sat the tire next to it's original spot if broke off of.

"Ok Honesty stand back a little."

The child stood back as the girl raised her hands in front of the bike's broken spot. A glow slowly emanated from her hands as two transmutation circle's appeared on them. She hovered hands over the spot as the bike magically started to mend itself. When it was done, the light stopped glowing and the circle's disappeared.

The child's face lit up with excitement as she stepped back onto the bike.

"Thank you so much sissy!!" The girl exclaimed as she hugged the other girl's legs from her bike. The older girl smiled down at the child.

"It's no problem. Your welcome."

The smaller child adjusted her bike and started pedaling in the opposite direction from where Edward stood. The girl watched the other ride away on her bike.

Edward stepped from behind the wall of the alley and smirked lightly, "The rumors I hear are true then, you are too kind for your own good, Aria."Aria noticed the remark from behind her as she turned to see who was speaking to her. Her eyed widened as she saw it was Edward, who looked back at her with kindness in his eyes and expression.

She slowly stammered to get the words out of her mouth, "Ed….ward?"

Edward smiled and nodded his head as a response, "What's up…"

Before he could finish his sentence she quickly ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He steadied his feet as he held her where she was yet preventing himself falling with her. He lifted his right arm to put it around her back, but he hesitated and took his left arm with the flowers and placed it over her back. They stood silent for a moment, she continued to hold onto his neck. Edward didn't interrupt as he remembered what Fumiko had told them earlier. He could feel her heart pounding against him as he felt her warm breath on his neck.

Aria soon realized how long she had been holding him and she quickly let go and straightened herself to stand in front of him. Just like before, she still had to look up just to see him. Compared to him she was short, but only by 2 inches under him.

"Sorry I just haven't seen you in so long. I guess I got carried away."

"It's no problem really," Edward reassured her. Aria blushed lightly as she glanced down to his hand with the Dragon Snaps.

"Oh, what are those for?" she asked curiously.

Edward then began to blush as he held them up to her, "Um…they're for you…here…"

Aria took their flowers and admired them for a moment then looked back to Edward who continued to blush and look to his side, trying to ignore making eye contact with her. One look from her could make him lose control and blush even heavier.

Aria smiled, "Thank you so much Edward! But how did you know that Dragon Snaps were my favorite?"

"The lady at the flower stand told me."

"Oh I see…well it's good to have you visit! When did you get here? I'm sorry I wasn't there to greet you, I didn't know when you were going to get here."

His blushing stopped and he looked back down to Aria, "It's fine it's our fault since we came here without notice. We got here about an hour ago I think."

"I see. Where's Alphonse?"

"He's back at your house with Fumiko."

"Why did you come out by yourself to find me?" She asked curiously. Edward began to blush again and look away, "No reason."

She smiled and held her hands behind her back as she leaned slightly to face him, "Are you sure?"

"Well I thought I should come find you since I didn't know when you were going to be back."

"Whatever you say. Ha ha."

"What's so funny?!"

"Nothing," She began to laugh lightly. Edward looked back at her again and smiled. Her laughing slowly faded and she regained her composure.

"So what have you been doing all day?" Edward asked.

"I was just running errands," She replied. "I'm almost done with them too. Would you like to come with me? I could use help with groceries."

"Sure I'll help out."

"Great!"

Aria linked her left arm with Edward's right. Suddenly, her eyes widened with surprise as she realized it was his automail arm. Edward's face became sad as Aria stayed silent for a moment and then softly smiled.

"Are your sure you want to hold on to that arm?"

"Yeah I'm fine. It just caught me off guard…"

"Your not afraid?"

"No, not at all."

"Well I would rather have you hold onto my other arm."

"Too bad. I need to use my right arm for other things."

"What are you going to hold on to me the whole time?!"

"Is that so bad?"

"Not it's just…"

"Great! Ok let's go!"

Together, they walk off, arm in arm. They started catching up with each other as they continued to walk off into the town.

_**Now that we are together again…**_

_**There is no word needed for the miracle that connects you and I…**_

Aria and Edward had continued what Aria was doing. They did many various errands, such as Aria picking up and dropping off things for many of the shopkeepers, adult, and elderly. Edward followed her around everywhere as from time to time she would have to let go of his arm, but soon enough she linked with it again.

Just as they were walking back from an elderly woman's house that they had dropped medication off for, they noticed some black clouds in the sky.

"We'd better hurry, it's going to rain soon." Edward said as he turned his head to Aria who stood holding his right arm.

"We have one more errand: Groceries. Sorry you had to follow me around all day. It's almost night now."

"It's fine. I had nothing better to do."

Soon, they arrived in front of a small market and entered it. They picked up the groceries Aria had written down on a list, also some other things for dinner that night.

"What do you want for dinner? I'll cook whatever you want."

Edward thought for a moment and replied, "Stew?"

"Is that still your favorite?" She smiled.

"Yeah even though it has milk in it I still like it."

"And you still hate milk?"

"Yeah. And don't go telling me I should drink it. It's so gross."

"I hate it too so you have no argument here."

"Really?!"

"Yeah it's disgusting but I have to use it for stuff sometimes. Which means we'll need if for the stew…"

Edward began to laugh and Aria joined him. It had been so long and they had not changed too much. And still got along way better Edward had with any other girl, even Winry.

They finished their shopping and Edward carried the paper bag of groceries they had bought. When they walked outside and under the front of the stores rain cover, it was pouring rain.

"Oh no! Were too late! I really don't want to get wet!" Aria exclaimed as she gripped her flowers from Edward and started to walk in the rain. Edward grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to him, "Hold on you can use this." He sat down the bag he held on started to take off his long red coat.

"Wait! You don't have to do that!"

"It's fine I don't care."

"But won't you get wet?!"

"I have my jacket and I don't care anyways. I've been through worse weather."

He held out his jacket to her as she hesitantly turned around so he could help her put it on. She slowly slipped her arms through the sleeves as Edward helped her straighten it. He turned her around to fix the front of it then he grabbed the hood and lightly pulled it over her head. She looked up to him and lightly blushed and looked away, "T-thank you…"

"No problem. Make sure you keep a hold of those flowers. Are you ok with running back?"

Aria looked back at him and smiled, "Race you?"

"I didn't say that," he chuckled.

"Well, let's race!"

"You're on!"

She laughed, "You may be taller than me but aren't your legs too short to outrun me?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" he immediately responded with some laughing still in his loud tone. Aria laughed more and sped off into the rain and toward the house.

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU!" Edward yelled over the rain as he ran after her. While is was raining, the sun had slowly set and it was dusk. The whole time she kept laughing as he jokingly tried to catch her.

They soon reached the house, Aria made it first with Edward right behind her. She was first to stand under the house's porch until Edward came up from behind her and wrapped his right arm around her neck and shoulders.

"Ow! Edward! That hurts! Really!"

Edward realized he used his metal arm to grab her and he quickly pulled his arm away. He now felt horrible. She gasped for breath and felt her neck that sort of stung. Edward sat down the bag of groceries and lifted his arms in some sort of way to help her.

"I'm so sorry! Are you ok? God I'm so stupid!"

"It's ok! Really! It didn't even hurt that bad, just a little."

"Are you sure?" He leaned in to take a look at the damage he had done.

"I'm ok. Don't worry…" Her eyes averted down to Edward who looked at her neck and shoulders. Slowly, a light bruise appeared from where his arm was. He placed his left hand's fingers lightly on her collarbone from where the bruise appeared. Without noticing what she was saying Aria interrupted, "This is weird, I usually don't bruise this easily…" She stopped in mid-sentence, noticing this made Edward feel worse, "Err, ah, I mean, I do bruise easily on occasion. Your arm is no different from my training it's not bad ha ha." She stopped and blushed as Edward continued to place his fingers on the small bruise under her neck. His face now showed how depressed he was and how bad he felt.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered under his breath.

"It's fine," she tried to assure him.

"No. It's not."

Aria tried to say something, but couldn't think of anything. She didn't know what she could say to make him feel better.

Edward lifted his head then he realized they were now looking eye to eye. They were so close that their faces almost touched. Aria softly blushed but Edward's face remained almost emotionless; unafraid.

Slowly, they both started to lean in toward each other almost kissing. It was so silent that they could almost hear each other's heartbeats.

"HEY WHERE YOU KIDS BEEN?!" Fumiko yelled joyfully as she busted through the door they stood some couple feet from. As soon as she came through the door, Edward and Aria quickly pulled away from each other as they looked in each other's opposite direction, blushing.

Fumiko stopped and smiled at them, "Am I interrupting something?"

They both immediately regained their composure and faced her.

"No everything's fine," Aria nervously smiled as she looked up to see Edward almost sweating from being so startled.

"Alright, well hurry and come in so we can start dinner, 'Kay?"

"O-ok."

Fumiko backed up and went back into the house just as Edward bent over and picked up the bag of groceries. At the same time, Aria began to walk into the house as he grabbed the bad and lifted it and his head. Still flustered from being the moment before, Edward had not noticed where he lifted his head and was now facing directly at Aria's 'derriere' as she entered the house, not knowing this. Edward blushed madly as he covered his from mouth to stop himself from yelling then fell on his tailbone.

Before she could notice, Aria had already entered the house; leaving Edward behind. Edward remained on the floor and watched as she left. He stopped blushing and went back to feeling horrible. He grabbed the middle of his brow with his metal fingers and started to think.

"_God I'm so stupid. I realized a moment too late and now I've already hurt her_."

Out of nowhere in his mind, a flashback of the 'almost-kiss' flashed in his head.

"_And what the hell was I thinking?! DAMMIT_!" His heart wrenched as many things crossed his mind. He couldn't believe he had hurt her and now he didn't know what to do.

"Edward? Are you ok?" Aria said as she peeked her head out from the door. Edward was

still on the ground but in some sort of thinking pose.

Edward looked up at her and quickly got to his feet, "Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking."

Even though he tried to hide it, his tone had a hint of sadness. Aria noticed this but was puzzled why he was thinking on the ground.

"Oh, ok, well I'm going to start dinner so can you please bring in those groceries?"

"Yeah I'm on my way," his face remained solemn. Aria looked at him, worried, as he walked right past her on his way inside. She turned to watch him walk down the hall to the kitchen as sadness hinted in her expression as well. She softly touched the bruise on her neck.

"_It's because of this….isn't it?"_

She fixed her expression from sad to happy so Edward would not notice. Still thinking about before, she made her way to the kitchen.

_**Even when we walked arm in arm, somehow you were**_

_**Looking far away**_

_**What's important to you?**_


	4. Chapter 4: Comfort

_We will understand each other if I'm with you… _

_My secret blooming love for you_

Aria followed after Edward into the kitchen as he went to sit by his brother. Aria noticed Alphonse, but also realizing it is him in a suit of armor. She was not as surprised with that as she was with Edward's automail. Alphonse stood up to greet her, "It's good to see you again, Aria."

She smiled, "It's good to see you too Al."

"Ok Aria how 'bout we start dinner?" Fumiko interrupted.

"Oh yes of course," She said as she turned to Fumiko.

Alphonse noticed as Aria glanced back at Edward who made eye contact with her but quickly looked away. Aria lowered her head sadly as well and turned back to help Fumiko.

"_What happened between those two?" _Alphonse thought to himself.

He looked at his brother who continued to look in the opposite direction. At first he thought he was mad but when he took a closer look at Edward's face, he saw that he was sad. He glanced back to Aria who went on with what she was doing; preparing to cook with Fumiko's help.

Later on that night, after they made dinner and sat around to eat it, Edward and Aria started to warm up to each other again. But Alphonse noticed that not all was right with them.

After Fumiko and Aria had picked up the dishes, cleaned them and put them away, Edward got up and started to walk toward his room.

"I'm going to go take a shower," he said as he left the kitchen. His brother started to say something to him, but he was too late. On instinct he looked at Aria who began to make it to her room. She looked back at Fumiko and Alphonse and smiled, "I'm going to get ready for bed. I'll see you two in the morning." She turned back again and went to her room.

"You felt that too, didn't you?" Fumiko said to Alphonse as she took a seat by them.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"That something weird is going on between them."

"Oh yeah I had a feeling about that. What do we do?"

"Nothing."

"But, why?"

"Because this is their problem. I'm sure it's nothing, but even so."

"I'm wondering what he's going to do when we have to leave. I'm afraid to ask."

Fumiko leaned over the table and rested her chin on her hand. "Let's just see how it plays."

Alphonse got up from his seat, "I'm going to talk to Aria."

Fumiko smiled, "I'm sure she would like that."

Before Aria had the chance to finally change into her nightgown, she heard a knock on her door. Curious to whom it was, she answered it. It was Alphonse.

"Oh, uh, hi Aria." He said rubbing the back of his head.

She smiled lightly, "Hello Alphonse. Did you need anything?"

"Oh, well, I came to apologize for my brother being so rude. That's just how he always is."

Aria looked at him surprised, "He wasn't being rude?"

"He wasn't? I just thought seeing how you guys were acting."

She shook he head, "No it was nothing. There's no need for you to worry."

Alphonse could tell she was lying, "Are you sure?"

"Yes."  
"Oh ok… then I'll leave you alone. Sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry, thank you for being so concerned."

He nodded and started down the hall until Aria interrupted, "Um…Alphonse?"

He turned to face her, "Yeah?"  
"You can't sleep in that body can't you?"

"Um….no…"

"Well if you get lonely, Fumiko is always up at night. She's an insomniac. If you need someone to talk to I'm sure that she would be happy to keep you company."

This made Alphonse a little happier; he was always lonely at night when Edward had to sleep. This could give him a chance to talk to someone for once.

"Thank you Aria. Good night."

"Good Night Alphonse." She slowly closed her door as Alphonse went back to him and Edward's room.

Alphonse entered their room as soon as Edward was leaving the bathroom from taking a shower.

As usual, he was only in his pale blue boxers with his hair let down and his automail not being hidden. He looked up to see Alphonse entering the room, "Hey Al."

"Hey Ed."

There was an awkward silence until his brother said, "Um, well since you're going to sleep I'm going to visit with Fumiko?"

His brother raised an eyebrow, "Does she not sleep or something?"

"Well Aria said that she's practically an insomniac and since I can't sleep it would be nice to have someone to talk to."

Edward smiled, "Ok, as long as you're happy."

Alphonse nodded then left the room, closing the door behind him. Edward's smile faded as he looked down into the palm of his automail hand, and then closed it. He looked up and walked toward the door, opening it. He stuck his head out of it to look up and down the hall where his room was in the middle. He quietly shut off the light in his room and walked down to Aria's room at the end of the hall.

After Alphonse had left, Aria went into her bathroom that her room led into like the guest room. It was a good thing they had 3 bathrooms. She dressed into her long-sleeved nightgown that had ribbons around the neckline, wrists, below the chest, and at the bottom of the whole dress. I had frills in those areas and its color was a tanish-pink.

Before leaving the bathroom, whose door was shut, she finished taking her make-up off and cleaning her face. She looked in the mirror so see how the mark on her neck was. It was slowly fading but a slight bruise stayed behind. It was small and not really noticeable; but she knew once she saw Edward the next day that's the exact place he would look.

She tried to think of a way to cover it up, but that would just make him feel worse. Besides, it wasn't bad enough that she would need to cover it.

She let go of the thought and turned off the lights in her bathroom. The lights in her room were already off but her room's window was opened, so the light from the moon gave her enough light to see. She stepped out of her bathroom and closed its door behind her. Suddenly, she looked at her bed to see Edward laying in it asleep. She stood there surprised as Edward slept peacefully in her own bed. She walked over and leaned over him on her bed, then shook him. He woke up startled and sat up in the bed. He looked over at Aria who stared at him curiously, wondering why he was in her bed.

"Oh, hi Aria."

"Um, Edward?

"Yeah?"

"Why are you in my bed?"

_Edward gritted his teeth while he searched for the reason in his head. "Ah, well, I wanted to talk_ to you. But you were in the bathroom so I thought I would wait for you and I accidentally fell asleep."

"Oh, uh, ok."

Edward calmed down and looked at where the bruise appeared on Aria's collar bone, "I came to see if that was ok."

Aria smiled, "It's fine Edward you don't need to worry so much."

"Yeah but it was my fault, I have to worry."

Aria pointed at the small bruise, "It's almost gone. It's no problem."

Edward frowned; he rested his head on his knees as he scratched his head. Aria suddenly got fed up with the small cycle of sadness; she grabbed Edward's right shoulder and turned him toward her, "Stop being so sad! It's not bad! Just be happy, ok?!"

Edward looked back at her as he was taken aback, then he suddenly felt at ease.

"Heh, that's the Aria I know," He smirked.

Aria smiled, "Well now, that's better."

They both laughed, now more at ease with each other. They both laid back comfortably on the bed's pillows and their hands behind their heads. They stared at the dark ceiling above them as they began to talk to each other and reminiscing.

"I remember how we would always stay out late so we could see the stars in Risembool," Aria said.

"Yeah I'm surprised we never got in trouble for staying out so late. But Risembool isn't dangerous so I could see why my mom could put up with it," Edward added.

"Yeah and I remember how Winry always wanted to play house. That was a fun game."

"Haha and you and I would always be the mom and dad."

"And Alphonse would be our son and Winry would be our daughter."

They laughed together at the fun thought of them playing back when they were younger."

The whole time though, Aria had one thought on her mind. Her eyes looked over to Edward who continued to look up at the ceiling and going on about their younger days.

"_I wonder if he remembers….that promise…" _she thought to herself. She contemplated on whether to ask, and didn't know whether she should. She played with the ring on exact hand Edward had put it on; the ring her made for her so long ago.

It suddenly grew silent, Edward turned on his side facing Aria; that long silence between them meant he fell asleep. She looked at him and turned to face him too. Suddenly he opened his eyes and yawned, "I'm sorry I'm just so tired; I barely got any sleep on the train. Not to mention it hurt my neck."

Aria's eyes began to feel tired as well; she smiled and looked back into his eyes, "Its fine. It's just like old times. We would always sleep by each other."

"Yeah and you would always end up clinged to me."

"And you slept with your stomach out."

They both smiled. Aria continued, "Well at least I have clothes on, you're in my bed with just your boxers!"

Edward laughed, "Is that a problem? You're just in a dress!"

"Touché`."

Edward yawned once again, "Ugh there I go again." He rubbed his eye with his automail hand.

Aria looked at his arm closely and then down to his leg. Edward noticed.

"Are you interested in my automail or something?"

She slowly averted her attention back to him, "No I'm just curious."

"What about them?"

"Did it hurt when you got them?"

"Yeah a lot…" He said as he looked down at his hand. "But it's not half as bad as what I put Alphonse through…"

The moment had suddenly darkened and they both noticed this. Aria began to speak, but she realized she didn't really have anything to say. Anything that could help at least.

"But I swear I'm going to get our bodies back to normal. I'm never going to quit."

Aria softly smiled, "I know you will."

Despite the comment Edward's expression hardened, "That's why I didn't want you to hold on to my arm, because it's my sin and I'm disgusted with it. It was even worse that I hurt you with it."

Aria sighed, "Edward, you don't need to worry about me. You just need to worry about your problems and fixing them. And if you ever need help, I'm right here."

Edward's face started to soften and he smiled, "I'm sorry I shouldn't be complaining, you've had your share of problems. I'm just glad you're ok."

"Well we should probably go to sleep now. Tomorrow I can show you just how good I am with alchemy. Not to mention fighting,' she giggled softly. Edward put his left hand on her head.

"I'm sure you're great." He took his hand as Aria turned to lay on her right side. Secretly she was blushing, but suddenly a thought crept into her head.

"_WHY ARE WE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED?!"_

_I want to break the wall to reach_

_Your dear pain_

_If I can stay nearby you_

_It'll be nice to share everything with you_


	5. Chapter 5: The Fun Has Begun

**Hey everyone! Sorry I don't do enough authors' notes you guys! I'm just lazy XD you can tell because chapter 4 was pretty short and didn't really go anywhere. Anyways, thank you for the awesome reviews! That just made me want to continue it even more! Well I would have anyways but it's a nice bonus! Well I hope your guys really like it, even though for a fact, it is mary-sue-ish. Even BrideofMegatron told me that! But whatever I don't care I like what I come up with in my head :D**

**So if you guys have any questions then go ahead and ask me anything! Aria is me in a sense so go ahead and ask my anything about my OC. And if anyone has any good ideas for upcoming chapters or other stories then feel free to tell me, I'm always open to suggestion. **

**Anyways thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it! By the way I'm sorry if my grammar randomly changes! My stories progress as my grammar does so it might sound funny after some time :P**

_The moment that I wake up quietly _

_I wish that the first thing in the world I see is you…_

_And the voice that I hear will be…_

_You and yours today, again_

The morning sun streamed through the open windows of Aria's room as it began to rise. Slowly, the sun's light began to force Aria out of her sleep. Her eyes opened and closed slowly as she started to regain her sight. When she looked around, she was not facing the way she was last night. Instead, she was staring straight into the chest of Edward Elric. Her eyes widened for a moment but the feeling inside her told her not to be startled, she was too comfortable to start freaking out over accidentally sleeping in his arms. The feeling made her warm and she didn't want to move from that spot she was in. Edward peacefully slept as he, without really knowing, held Aria into his embrace as if he was the one who clung to others at night. Which, obviously, was Aria's habit. This time she was curled up in his warm arms and embraces that held her closely. It didn't even faze her that his automail held her from right under her side; but she could feel it.

She softly faced her head upward to see Edward's face that shone in the morning light. The warm light went with his skin flawlessly. She smiled and slowly, she began to slip from his arms and to the bottom of the bed. She stood to her feet and stretched her small body until any tired left in her had vanished. She rubbed her eyes as she walked into the bathroom, quietly closing the door from behind her.

While in the bathroom, she fixed her hair up into a high ponytail. Then she dressed into a pair of grey short short's and a black tank top. She checked herself in the mirror, making sure she did not miss anything. Her hazel eyes stared back at herself as she examined her hair and face. She looked down to her collar bone and noticed that the bruise from the day before had completely disappeared. She sighed in relief as it made it notice her pale skin that contrasted with the clothes she wore. Black looked good on her; but did not suit her personality.

She stepped out of her bathroom to go through her door to the hall. As she left, she looked back at Edward who continued to peacefully sleep. She smiled and left the room. Even though she tried to leave as silently as she could, Edward was still roused from his sleep by the clicking sound of the door.

Slowly, his eyes started to adjust to his surroundings and the bright light that enveloped the room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes then suddenly realized: Aria wasn't in the bed anymore. Suddenly everything he had heard from yesterday flooded into his head, making him slightly panic. But then he quickly realized nothing was wrong; she must have just gotten up early.

He relaxed and rested his head on his knees and ran his left hand through his long, blonde, hair. A sigh of relief escaped from his mouth as he began to come back to his senses. He got up from the bed and went through the door down to his room and dressed in his black pants and tank top. Checking himself in the mirror, he fixed his hair into a braid once more.

Aria had already grabbed a quick breakfast from Fumiko, with Alphonse helping her. After she eaten her breakfast, she made her way to the back door that led into the back of the house where the town river ran across.

Before leaving, Aria looked over her shoulder, "You ready yet Fumiko?"

"Yeah just let me finish her and I'll meet you outside. Do some warm-ups."

"Gotcha!" She quickly ran out the door.

Alphonse looked back at her curiously, "What does she mean? Are you guys going somewhere?"

Fumiko shook her head and smiled, "We're going to fight!"

If Alphonse had actual eyes, they would have widened. "What do you mean 'Fight'?!"

"She means they're doing the same thing we do when we spar, Al." Edward interrupted. He walked into the kitchen while scratching the back of his head. His face still showing he had just woke up.

Fumiko grinned almost evilly, "Yep."

"Oh I see well that's better. Anyways, good morning brother."

"Morning."

"Want some breakfast?"

"Not hungry."

"You need to eat brother."

"Don't wanna."

Fumiko laughed and headed out the door, "Well then if you're not eating then you must watch us."

Edward's lips crooked into a smile, "You bet."

As Alphonse sighed, seeing there was not much he could do, the three of them walked outside where they saw Aria warming up by stretching her arms over her chest. She noticed their presence and turned to them.

"You ready little girl?!" Fumiko yelled from where they stood across the yard.

Aria laughed sarcastically, "What? Was that supposed to be some kind of threat? My feelings are fine thanks!"

Fumiko shook her head and chuckled, "Oh so then I guess you wouldn't be mad if I told you that you should drink more milk…"

Edward and Aria both twitched at the same time. Ew, milk.

"Yeah?! What about milk?!" Aria said as snidely as she could, she knew exactly what was coming and she did not like that idea at all.

"Oh nothing nothing. I'm just saying that might be the reason why…." She paused almost unnecessarily dramatic. "YOUR FLAT!"

Exactly how Aria thought of it, Fumiko went for it. Knowing this pissed her off more than anything. Aria's face was soon covered by anger. This annoyed her for two reasons: one, yes, she was sort of flat in the chest department. Two, why the hell did she have to say that in front of EDWARD?!

From behind Fumiko, Ed and Al could sense the anger radiating off Aria….even thought she was about 20 away from them. Edward gulped as pink overcame his face.

"So THAT'S what makes her tick…." Edward had never really planned to make any comment on her….chest….but he still saved that thought for later. For all the Elric's knew…she could be as bad as Edward whenever he was called short.

Aria stayed in her spot, she always did this. ALWAYS tried to piss her off with that comment. She tried to show that it didn't bother her, but it was pretty rude. With Edward on top of it, that made it ten times worse. And what else was worse, her face was flushed with anger and embarrassment.

"Did you not hear me dear?! I SAID THAT YOUR FLAT CAUSE YOU DON'T DRINK MILK! NO WONDER YOUR BRA IS A SIZE 34…" before she could even finish the rude comment, Aria had already shot a punch past her. The brother's jaws dropped to the floor (well not Al but if he could), they didn't even see her move! It was like lightning shot right past them.

Fumiko smirked, grabbing her right arm that she tried to punch with. Almost with no warning, Fumiko turned backwards and bent over with Aria behind her. And with the strength that matched perfectly with Izumi's. She flipped Aria into the air, forcing her to fly through the air. The brother's mouths were still gaped open. When they imagined Aria fighting…they never imagined this!

As if time had slowed, Aria could see her surroundings pass her as she flew through the open space.

Fumiko had flung her across the river and towards the woods behind it.

At the last minute, she positioned her body toward the other direction and kicked herself the tree she almost hit. The strength of the kick now made her fly into the other direction. As soon as she crossed the water to where Fumiko waited for her, she positioned herself once again. Putting herself in an almost standing pose in the middle of the air, she reached Fumiko, swinging her foot to kick. Of course, she dodged. She moved enough for Aria to regain her balance on the ground once again, but still in her fighting pose.

"That's my girl," Fumiko whispered under her breath. Suddenly, they lunged for each other, continuing to spar. Dodging and missing many punches and kicks, moving fast enough for the human eye to see but still amazingly fast.

Edward and Alphonse watched in amazement. Alphonse interrupted their stunning silence, "She's amazing! Do you see this brother?!"

Edward blinked, not taking his eyes off Aria's smooth and swift movements, "I do see this….I would say she's as good as us almost."

In a moment after speaking, their amazement was ended in a big splash. Fumiko had flung Aria into the middle of the wide river.

Fumiko clapped the dirt off her hands and laughed heartily, "Oh goodness that girl sure gives me a work out!"

Edward's amazement had soon turned into surprise toward Fumiko. He pointed her finger toward her, "Hey that's dirty play!"

"All's fair in love and war."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Fumiko's laughter soon turned into worry, she looked toward the river, "What's wrong…?"

Edward stopped himself, "What's that?"

"She should have been out of the water by now. She can't hold her breath this long."

Edward's eyes widened. With agile speed he threw off his coat and plummeted himself into the water. All in one movement.

Alphonse shrieked inside his armor, "Brother!"

Fumiko breathed in and quickly dove into the water, leaving Alphonse to worry himself sick.

_**Before they had realized this…**_

_Ugh I hate it when she does that!_Aria thought to herself as she slowly sank to the bottom of the river.

Just as she began to kick her feet to make it to the surface, something had caught a hold of her foot. SOMEONE had caught it. She looked down in panic, losing her breath between small shrieks. She could not make out the face of the figure looking back up at her with an evil grin. It's eyes showed hatred and a sadistic pleasure from this. With all her might, she tried punching and kicking the figure, but they were in vain. This made her lose air even faster.

At the last second, she looked up to see two figures diving towards. Then everything turned black.

Edward and Fumiko had finally made it close the bottom, where they saw Aria floating, unconscious. They looked below her to see her ankle being held by a hand, but the rest of the body hiding in a small shadow. Fumiko signaled Edward that she would get rid of the cause while he should take Aria up to the surface. He nodded and with amazing speed, they had managed to make it to the bottom. Fumiko landed in first, taking out the figure with a punch. It let go of her ankle, allowing Aria to float toward Edward, who tightly grabbed her and swam up to the top.

The figure started to fight with Fumiko under the water, punching her in almost as much as he could. Fumiko dodged every attack, but then the figure's hands glowed with transmutation circles, obviously drawn onto gloves. He placed his hands to the bottom of the river floor, using his alchemy to make strange weeds grow immensely, catching Edward and Aria just above them and dragging them down.

_Dammit I'm running out of air!_ Edward thought as he struggled to free himself and Aria from the grip of the rope weeds. Without another thought, he rest Aria into his right arm and gripping her with his elbow to make her stay in place. He clapped his hands together then held them in front of himself, making the ropes disintegrate and making the ground beneath them rumble. Fumiko realized his motive and quickly grabbed the figure with her arm and forcing him along with her as they made their way around the rumbling earth and to the other side of the river.

Edward grinned at his smart idea as they ground lifted from the bottom of the river, soon landing Aria and himself and surfacing. He had made the ground into some kind walkway that ended to the side with Alphonse. Edward's alchemy was soon wearing off the ground and started to retreat back into the water. But before it could, Edward cradled Aria into his arms bridal style and ran to the other end, jumping off at the last minute.

He rested Aria onto the ground, seeing as she had not yet regained consciousness.

"Al! Go grab anything from the house that could help! Like some blankets or something!" He yelled.

Al nodded and dropped his brother's coat next to him and ran into the house. Without hesitation, Edward took his red coat and wrapped Aria into it. He looked down at her, not seeing her breathing.

"Aria! Aria! WAKE UP!" He yelled but following with her silence.

"Oh please don't tell me I hafta….oh god where's Fumiko!" He screamed in frustration. With no other complaint, he rested Aria onto the ground, bended over, plugged her nose, opened her mouth, and quickly closed the gap between their lips.

_I want to protect this heart…_

_This heart that has such a hold on mine…_

_I want to protect this imprisoned princess…_


	6. Chapter 6: Aftershock

_I can easily rescue the Angel…_

_But how do I know if that will be the only thing that hurts her…_

As Edward had finally gotten Aria out of the water, Fumiko swam to the other side of the river with the mysterious assassin. Just as she dragged him to the edge of the ground, she quickly caught her breath and picked him up by the collar. But when she was about to confront him, she saw that his eyes were lifeless. For some reason, he was dead and she hadn't even begun to actually try to kill him. When she looked at his neck closer, she saw that he had gills.

And from the looks of his body, he's been dead for quite a while.

"Someone's been controlling his body from somewhere else…" Fumiko mused under her breath. She let go of the body and stepped back. She stood still to clear her senses and try to see if she could sense the other enemy. But whoever they were, they were long gone now. And as she began to think of the weird gills on his neck that instantly showed her that he was some kind of a chimera.

This could only mean one thing.

Fumiko hissed, "Ian."

"C'mon! Wake up!" Edward yelled as he pushed his palm into the middle of Aria's chest and reconnecting their lips to give her air. Finally after the small struggle, she began to cough up water. Edward sighed with relief, "Finally."

He lifted Aria's upper body so she couldn't swallow the water again or choke on it. Finally she got all the water out of her and began to catch her breath.

Edward lowered his head by hers to meet her eyes, "Aria, are you ok?"

She looked back at him and nodded as she opened and closed her eyes, "Yeah I think so…" She sat up but leaned against his arms that held her up.

Soon she realized why she could breathe again. Her eyes darted back to him and widened, "Edward did you…"

"Ed! Is she ok?!" Fumiko yelled as she came from the edge of the river she swam out of. Alphonse had also made his way back from the house a blanket and a bottle of water.

Fumiko leaned to her other side and gently placed her hand on her cheek, "Are you ok?! Your not hurt anywhere are you?!"

"Uh no I don't think so…."

Fumiko looked back up to Edward, "How long did it take her to regain consciousness?"

"Not long, I gave her CPR and it lasted about 3 minutes."

"That's good, then that means she didn't get a lot of water in her."

The word "CPR" suddenly hit her and made her mind go crazy. She started to get dizzy and confused as she thought of "who" did it.

So if Edward gave her CPR then that must mean….that he had to…

Suddenly all the blood rushed to her face as she came to this realization.

Fumiko looked back at her worried, "Are you ok?"

Edward looked down at her in his arms once again, his grip tightened on her arm as he held her up. Aria grabbed the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, I think I'll be ok…I think I'm going to go take a shower…"

Fumiko nodded, "Sure thing you go ahead and do that. Edward will you help her in?"

"Ok." He quickly stood up and held a hand out to Aria, she looked up at him as her wet hair draped over her face. She could still feel his kiss and too much was going through her head. She stared at him for a minute before taking his hand and clutching his jacket that rested on her shoulders. It was warm and smelled just like him; she never wanted to take it off.

For so long, she had always loved him, even though their love was based off a silly childhood promise. But she wanted to believe that they could still love each other, despite their past and difficulties.

But how did Edward even feel? Did he love her back? Or did he forget all about their promise and the ring?

As soon as the two of them reached the house and entered it, Alphonse turned to Fumiko and asked her, "What happened?"

"Someone was waiting for her at the bottom of the river and held her down until she couldn't breath anymore. We caught them and here we are now."

"What happened to the said someone?"

"I finally got him out of the water so I could finish him off….but he was already dead…he had been so for a while too. Someone was controlling his body with alchemy and had turned him into a chimera. And there's only one person I know who could do something like that."

"Who?"

"Ian."

Alphonse gasped, "What?! He's here already?! What are we going to do?!"

"I'm going to try as hard as I can to track him before he can do much, but you can't tell Aria, you hear me?"

"But why?! Shouldn't she know about this so she could be ready like you have been making her for so long?"

"I am not sure if she's ready to fight with someone like Ian and what with her alchemy, the outcome is unpredictable. It's very mysterious even I can't understand how it works. If anything triggers something within her, bad or good things could happen.

"Besides, she has you and Edward right now and I'm going to need help. You can tell him about Ian but make sure he heeds what I say as well. Just tell him to keep an eye out and stay closer to Aria."

Alphonse began to protest, but decided it would be best not to. He nodded in agreement and sighed.

Meanwhile, Aria silently took a nice long shower while Edward waited in her room for her to get out. Apparently, this was going to be his new guest room.

As Aria stood in the shower, she quickly picked through the thoughts that ran into her head

_Who tried to hold me down there, what am I going to do about Edward kissing me er CPR, and….why did I have such a weird dream. _

A flashback played in Aria's head of right after she had gone unconscious, she had a very strange dream.

It was her in the middle of eternal blue sky and nothing more. She wore a white sundress that just went above her knees. She looked around, confused as to where she was. Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Aria."

She looked back to see Edward dressed in a white t-shirt and white pants. He stared at her with a warm smile on his face. He was about 5 feet from Aria and reached out his arms towards her, reaching for her to come into his arms.

Just as Aria began to jump into his arms, everything suddenly turned darker than before. Edward's face began to frown as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and gasped with pain. He closed his eyes and tilted his head to cough out blood. Aria looked at him horrified as she had seen a long spear ran through his stomach. Blood began to run all over his clothes and the ground as he fell to the ground and the spear's handle sticking out from his back.

She screamed in horror as tears began to well up in her eyes and blur her vision, "EDWARD!!!"  
She knelt to his side and held him in her arms as she saw the life run out of his body. His body began to feel colder and colder as each minute passed.

Aria, out of desperation, touched her forehead to his and a flash of light shone off the both of them.

Aria quickly came back to her senses, she still stood in the shower and gasping at the thought of the nightmare. She choked back tears as she finished washing herself off and getting out of the shower. She quickly dressed into a grey, white, and black plaid dress that flowed over her knees. The top part was sort of cardigan style as it was plain grey and ended right under her chest and frilled on the straps. And was laced with black ribbon which she also wrapped a matching ribbon in her hair with the long bow on top.

She decided she would let her hair curl so she placed her hands over her hair, using her alchemy to dry it. Every now and then she would stop to scrunch so it didn't just go wavy.

As soon as she finished, she went back into her room where Edward laid on her bed reading a book. He noticed her walk in and got to his feet and walked over to her.

"You ok?" He asked with worry in his voice.

She smiled, "Yes I'm alright you don't need to worry so much." She looked up into his eyes, which still showed how worried he was.

"Are you sure?"

"You know, if you worry too much you're going to explode." She smiled and stuck out her tongue. Edward grinned his big grin back, "Ok, you're definitely fine."

Aria smiled as best as she could, but a flash of her dream would creep back into her head every now and then. She hated it, it scared her really bad. She narrowed her eyes and looked back at Edward. He stopped grinning and asked her, "What?"

Aria flung herself into Edward's arms and held him as she buried her head into his chest. Her grip tightened on his back every passing second. Edward could only question her, "What's the matter Aria?"

"Promise me you'll be careful too…ok?"

Edward down at her confused, "Sure Aria but why…."

"I'm just a little worried for you….that's all."

His face saddened slightly, he pulled his arms over her and held her in his embrace. He could feel her breath and her heart pound against his own chest. He could also feel her breath on his neck every time she breathed.

She slowly let go of him and stepped back to face him, "Ok….I think I'll be better now."

Edward smiled, "That's good."

"Shall we get out of here then? I'm hungry."

"We shall."

They both walked out of her room into the kitchen were Fumiko was speaking on the phone while Alphonse paced around the floor worried. He noticed the two of them walk in and stopped to run to Aria and lightly touched her shoulders, "Are you better now Aria?"

"Yeah no need to worry, I just need a little rest. Thank you for worrying so much Al." She smiled warmly.

Alphonse sighed with relief and backed up from her, "Thank goodness."

Fumiko turned from the phone as she held her hand on the receiver, "Aria, someone special wants to speak with you."

Aria took the phone curiously and spoke into its receiver, "Hello?"

"Well hello princess and how are we today?"

She knew exactly who it was and excitement ran through her.

"Roy!"

Edward twitched and shrugged, "Oh great."

Roy chuckled on the other end of the line, "Good afternoon my dear princess. How are you doing my dear?"

Aria smiled big and answered, "I'm doing great, even better now that you called!"

Yet she couldn't shrug the feeling that she felt and irritated aura coming from somewhere in the room.

_How long will this happiness last?_

_How long can I go without telling you how I really feel?_

_If only you knew…_

_

* * *

_

Hey everyone!! Author's note time! Thank you for all the lovely reviews!!

Guess you can't wait till there's more action right?! :3

Well there's definitly going to be some action soon don't worry!!

And let's hope Edward and Aria can fix their relationship soon!!

Edward: What? I think I'm doing ok so far.

Aria: Sure sure whatever you think dear...

Edward: What?!

Aria: haha love yooooouuuuu

Edward: *looks away* love you too.

Aria: That's right :3


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